Sindhu, Saina to lead Indian challenge in Denmark Open badminton

Odense (Denmark): Olympic medallists PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal will lead a strong Indian challenge at the Denmark Open badminton tournament which gets underway here on Tuesday.

While Sindhu has been seeded third in the event, world no.11 Saina is unseeded here. 

Sindhu will take on USA’s Beiwen Zhang in the opening round of the women’s singles. Saina, on the other hand, will be up against Cheung Ngan Yi of Hong Kong.

In men’s singles competition, world no.6 Kidambi Srikanth will be India’s best bet and has been seeded seventh in the tournament.

Srikanth will face Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus of Denmark in the opening round, while B Sai Praneeth will play Huang Yuxiang of China.

However, it will be a difficult opening encounter for another Indian, Sameer Verma, as he will square off against third seed Shi Yuqi of China.

The other Indian in fray, HS Prannoy also faces a tough first round match as he will be up against sixth seed Son Wan Ho of Korea.

Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap, who lost his passport at Amsterdam and sought the Indian government’s help on Friday, however doesn’t feature in the men’s singles draw.

In men’s doubles, the Indian pair of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy will take on local hope Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen in the opening round.

Ashwini Ponappa and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy will face the Korean combination of Seo Seung Jae and Chae Yujung in the first round of the mixed doubles competition.

Ponappa will pair up with N Sikki Reddy and play the American duo of Ariel Lee and Sydney Lee in the opening round of the women’s doubles event.